Caster assembly



Jan. 6, 1970 E. H. SCHULTZ, JR

CASTER ASSEMBLY Filed April 26, 1967 United States Patent 3,487,495CASTER ASSEMBLY Edward H. Schultz, Jr., Glencoe, Ill., assignor toNagel- Chase Manufacturing Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation ofIllinois Filed Apr. 26, 1967, Ser. No. 633,888 Int. Cl. 136% 33/00 U.S.C]. 16-20 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates toa caster assembly for use with an article of furniture defining arectangular cavity. The caster assembly is retained in the cavity by agenerally cuboidal bracket which engages surfaces of the cavity and apintle of the caster assembly to hold the caster assembly against bothsidewise and outward movement relative to the article of furniture, orthe like.

It is a common practice to employ casters to support articles offurniture for rolling engagement with a floor or other support surface.The casters are usually subjected to both longitudinal or vertical andtransverse or lateral stresses by the article of furniture. In order totransmit the longitudinal and transverse forces to a caster, the castersare usually fixedly connected to the article of furniture by relativelycomplex mounting assemblies. These mounting assemblies are expensive tofabricate and generally require considerable time and effort to attachto an article of furniture.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a castermounting assembly which overcomes the aforementioned shortcomings ofprior art structures. Specifically, it is an object of this invention toprovide a bracket for connecting a caster to an article of furnituredefining a cavity having a rectangular cross-section into which thebracket is slidably inserted.

Another object of this invention is to provide a bracket for mounting acaster on an article of furniture with a minimum of effort.

Other objects and features of this invention will become more apparentupon a reading of the following detailed description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a caster mounted on arectangular leg or housing of an article of furniture by a bracket whichis slidably received within a cavity in the leg; 1

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view, taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1further illustrating the interrelationship between the bracket, casterand article of furniture;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, taken along the line 33 ofFIG. 2 illustrating the relationship of the bracket to inner surfaces ofthe cavity defined by the article of furniture;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view, taken along the line 44 ofFIG. 2, further illustrating the interrelationship of the bracket,caster and article of furniture;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of the bracket forinterconnecting the caster and article of furniture in FIGS. 1 through4;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged plan view of a piece of sheet material from whichthe bracket of FIG. 5 is formed; and

FIG. 7 is a partial elevational view of a second embodiment of theinvention.

A caster assembly 10 is shown in FIGS. .1 and 2 connected to arectangular leg or housing 12 of an article of furniture by a bracket 14which is slidably received within a cavity 16 defined by the leg 12. Inaddition to the bracket 14, the caster assembly 10 includes a yoke orframe 20 on which a wheel or roller 22 is rotatably mounted by an axle24. A pintle or shaft member 26 extends upwardly from the frame 20 andis fixedly connected to the frame 20 by a head section 30. The casterassembly 10 is positioned in rolling engagement with a floor or supportsurface to facilitate movement of the article of furniture relative tothe support surface in a well known manner.

The bracket 14 is generally cuboidal in shape and includes a pair ofsubstantially parallel upwardly extending rectangular side sections 34and 36 which are perhaps best seen in FIGS. 3 through 5. The sidesections 34 and 36 extend upwardly from a rectangular base section 40.The base section 40 is somewhat larger in cross-sectional than the leg12, so that outwardly extending support sections or flanges 44 and 46(see FIG. 2) of the base section 40 engage a lowermost surface 50 of theleg 12 to position the bracket 14 in the cavity 16. The side sections 34and 36 have relatively wide rectangular face surfaces 54 and 56 whichare positioned in abutting engagement with side surfaces 58 and 60 ofthe cavity 16 (see FIG. 4) to retain the bracket against vertical orlongitudinally outward movement relative to the leg 12. The sidesections 34 and 36 also include relatively norrow rectangular sidesurfaces 64, 66, 68 and 70 which engage opposite parallel surfaces 74and 76 of the cavity (as shown in FIG. 3) to retain the bracket 14against sidewise or transverse movement relative to the leg 12.

As perhaps can be best seen in FIG. 5, the side sections 34 and 36 ofthe steel bracket 14 are initially formed in an upwardly and outwardlyspreading relationship relative to each other. When the bracket 14 isinserted into the cavity 16, the face surfaces 54 and 56 of the sidesections 34 and 36 engage the inner surfaces 58 and 60 of the leg 12 toresiliently press the side sections toward each other in a parallelrelationship, as shown in FIG. 4. The side sections 34 and 36 pressoutwardly against the inner surfaces of the cavity 16 to frictionallyretain the bracket against outward movement relative to the leg 12.

The base section 40 includes an upwardly projecting annular collar 80which circumscribes an aperture 82 defined by the base section 40 (seeFIG. 5). The bracket 14 is connected to the caster pintle 26 by abearing member 84 formed of an antifriction material such as nylon. Thebearing member 84 is rotatably mounted on the pintle 26 and fixedlyengages the collar 80 to enable the bracket 14 to rotate relative to thepintle. A pair of radially outwardly extending protuberances 88 (seeFIG. 2) are advantageously formed on the pintle 26 to retain the bearing84 against axial movement on the pintle. The bearing 84 is positioned insliding engagement with an upper surface of the frame 20 and the headsection 30 of the pintle 26 to transmit load forces from the leg 12 tothe wheel or roller 22.

The bracket 14 further includes a pair of transversely extending endsections 92 and 94 having upwardly and outwardly extending semicircularcollars 96 and 98 which engage an upper or inner end portion of thepintle 26 (see FIG. 4) to retain the pintle against sidewise ortransverse movement in a lateral direction relative to the leg 12. Apair of slots 102 and 104 are formed in the side sections 34 and '36 forreceiving a screwdriver or similar object to pry the bracket 14 off thebearing 84.

Referring now to FIG. 6, the bracket 14 is an integral structure madefrom a single piece or metal stamping, indicated at 108 in FIG. 6. Ascan be seen, the piece of sheet metal 108 includes a base section 40 inwhich an aperture 82 is formed. A pair of side sections 34 and 36 extendoutwardly from the base section 40. End sections 92 and 94 extend fromthe side sections 34 and 36. The piece of sheet metal 108 is bent alonglines indicated at 110 and 112 to extend the leg sections 34 and 36outwardly from the base section 40 in an upward direction, as shown inFIG. 5. The piece of metal 108 is then bent along the lines 114 and 116to extend the end sections 92 and 94 inwardly, toward each other, fromthe side sections 34 and 36 (see FIG. 5). Thus, the bracket 14 is formedfrom a single sheet metal stamping 108 by bending the material at fourplaces to form the integral generally cuboidal bracket 14. It will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that this construction isextremely efiicient and relatively inexpensive.

A second embodiment of the invention is shown in FIG. 7. The embodimentof the invention shown in FIG. 7 is substantially the same as theembodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 through 6. Therefore,similar components will be designated with similar numerals, thecomponents of the embodiment of FIG. 7 being designated with numeralshaving the suffix b to distinguish the ele ments associated with FIG. 7from the elements of FIGS. 1 through 6. A bracket 14b is shown in FIG. 7mounted in engagement with a pintle 26b of a caster assembly. Thebracket 14b is connected to a roller or ball bearing structure 120 toenable the pintle 26b and associated roller to pivot relative to a pieceof furniture in a well known manner.

For purposes of affording a more complete understanding of theinvention, it is advantageous now to provide a functional description ofthe mode in which the component parts thus far identified cooperate. Thebracket 14 will be mounted on the caster assembly 10 by positioning thebracket in a coaxial relationship with the longitudinal axis of thepintle 26 and the central axis of the aperture 82. The bracket will thenbe moved inwardly toward the bearing 84 and pressed into engagement withthe bearing 84, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 4. The pintle now extendsthrough the aperture 82 and the base 40 of the bracket and through anaperture defined by the outer generally semicircular collars 96 and 98which engage an outer end portion of the pintle 26. The side sections 34and 36 will then be compressed toward the pintle 26 and the bracket 14will be inserted into a cavity 16 (see FIG. 1) to interconnect thecaster assembly 10 and the leg 12. The side sections 34 and 36 will beheld inwardly by the side surfaces 58 and 60 of the cavity 16 to holdthe collars 96 and 98 in engagement with the pintle 26. The relativelynarrow side surfaces 64, 66, 68 and 70 (see FIG. 5) will engage oppositeside surfaces 74 and 76 of the cavity 16 to retain the bracket 14 andthe pintle 26 against sidewise movement in a direction transverse to thebase surfaces 54 and 56 of the bracket 14. Of course, the side sections34 :and 36 will engage the surfaces 58 and 60 to prevent sidewisemovement in a direction perpendicular to these surfaces. Thus, thepintle 26 of the caster assembly 10 will be retained against lateral ortransverse movement in a sidewise direction relative to the leg 12 byengagement of side surfaces of the generally cuboidal bracket 14 withsurfaces of the cavity 16.

The caster assembly 10 will be retained against longitudinal or outwardmovement relative to the leg 12 by frictional engagement of therelatively wide longitudinally extending face surfaces 54 and 56 of theside sections 34 and 36 which press outwardly against the interiorsurfaces 58 and 60 of the cavity 16. This frictional abuttingengagement'between the bracket 14 and the leg 12 will prevent the casterassembly 10 from becoming disconnected from the leg 12 when the articleof furniture is lifted from the support surface or floor 32. The lowersurface 50 of the leg 12 (see FIG. 2) will press against the outwardlyextending support sections or flanges 44 and 46 of the base section 40when a load is applied to the article of furniture to transmit this loadfrom the leg 12 to the caster assembly 10.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been shown, it shouldbe understood, of course, that the invention is not limited theretosince many modifications may be made; and it is, therefore, contemplatedto cover by the appended claims any such modifications as fall withinthe true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A caster assembly device including; a frame; antifriction means, suchas roller means on said frame for engaging a support surface, a pintleconnected to and extending outwardly from said frame, a one piece sheetmetal bracket means rotatably supporting said pintle and engageable withthe walls defining a complementary cavity, as for example a cavity inthe leg portion of a furniture structure, said bracket means including atransversely extending base section for positioning adjacent to an openend of the cavity, said base section defining an aperture through whichsaid pintle extends, first and second substantially flat side sectionsextending upwardly from opposite margins of said base section in aspaced apart relationship with said pintle, the transverse dimension ofthe base between said margins not exceeding the distance between theouter surfaces of said side sections, the remaining integral oppositemargins of said base extending laterally of the edges of said sidesections to a limited degree suflicient to provide a support for thebottom of an associated workpiece, said first andv second side sectionspresenting longitudinally extending surfaces for frictionally engagingcomplementary interior surfaces which define the cavity and having awidth substantially equal to the width of said interior surfaces, firstand second end sections extending transversely from said first andsecond side sections respectively and engageable with opposed outer endsurface portions of said pintle, said first and second end sectionsdefining an aperture through which the outer end portion of said pintleextends to secure the outer end portion of said pintle againsttransverse movement relative to said bracket means while enabling saidpintle to be rotated relative to said bracket, and anti-friction bearingmeans for the base section associated with the frame in the vicinity ofthe base of said pintle for supporting the underside of said basesection.

2. A caster assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein: the anti-frictionbearing means includes a self-lubricating annular plastic member.

3. A caster assembly as set forth in claim 1, wherein: the anti-frictionbearing means includes annular races and balls supported thereby.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 436,307 9/1890 Diss l639 933,9999/1909 Luppert l639 1,023,222 4/1912 Palmer l639 3,166,780 l/1965Schultz l621 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner D. L. TROUTMAN, AssistantExaminer US. Cl. X.R. 16-30, 39, 43

